NHSI: Day Three Prospect Notebook

CARY, N.C.—With rain falling on USA Baseball’s National Training Complex on Friday morning, there were only four games scheduled on the third day of this year’s National High School Invitational. With most teams’ aces having already thrown, the final days of the tournament usually allow for quality looks at top position players.

• Archbishop McCarthy’s South Florida smash brothers Alex Toral and Joe Perez showed well offensively in a 12-5 victory over Canterbury (Fort Myers, Fla.). In Toral’s second plate appearance, the lefthanded hitter worked the count full, then pulled a line drive to the wall for a double. Perez, who hit plenty of hard line drives to the opposite field in batting practice on Thursday, was in the zone on Friday.

Perez, a righthanded hitter, sent a high fastball deep to right for an opposite field grand slam. Perez hit the ball with high trajectory into the wind in right and watched it carry out over the wall. He singled on a ground ball up the middle in his next time up before doubling in his third time up.

Another hit for Mark Vientos. #NHSI17 #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/6dko6MdRpq

— Hudson Belinsky (@hudsonbelinsky) March 31, 2017

• American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) High shortstop Mark Vientos and Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Fla.) shortstop Austin Martin faced off in a matchup of two of the Sunshine State’s top middle infield prospects. Vientos went 2-for-4 in a 7-4 Heritage victory.

Vientos hit a hard line drive up the middle for a single in his first at-bat, then pulled a ground ball through the left side for another hit in his second time up. In the first inning, Vientos fielded a ground ball to his right and showed an accurate arm despite throwing off-balance from a difficult angle. In the seventh, Vientos showed plus arm strength on a throw after a smooth pick.

Vientos has shown quick reactions and promising instincts this week. His lateral quickness would need to improve for him to remain at shortstop long term, but he projects well as an offense-first player with enough arm strength to profile at third base should he need to move off shortstop.

• Martin stayed inside a fastball middle in and shot a line drive to right field in his first plate appearance. Martin flashed the leather in the bottom of the first inning, snagging a hard line drive to rob Heritage junior Cory Acton of a hit.

• South Hills (West Covina, Calif.) High shortstop Jacob Amaya was one of the standouts from Day Three, despite his team taking a 5-3 loss in the semifinals to Orange (Calif.) Lutheran High. Amaya didn’t have any hits in the game, but he drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and showed promising defensive tools at shortstop.

On a ground ball hit up the middle of the fifth inning, Amaya showed a quick first step and range to his left. He fielded the ball cleanly, spun, then threw a strike to first base. In the seventh inning, Amaya charged a ground ball and made a smooth scoop before throwing another strike to first. Amaya showed advanced body control and above-average arm strength.

• Against Amaya, Preseason first-team All-American Garrett Mitchell went 0-for-3. He took an off-balance swing at an outside pitch and flied out to left field in his first at-bat. In his second trip to the plate, Mitchell hit a routine fly out to center. He flied out to center again in his third time up, but stung the ball to the warning track in dead center field. He’s 3-for-10 in the tournament.